Forgotten Soul
by samcallaghan
Summary: The Behavioral Analysis Unit is called to investigate a child abduction in a small New Hampshire town while the individuals of the team deal with personal trials.
1. Taken

**330 Dawson Lane  
Sparrow, New Hampshire  
Monday 5 October 2009 8:44 AM**

"Come on, Leia, you're going to be late for school," Nicholas O'Riley called down from the kitchen to his daughter. He glanced at his watch for the seventh time in five minutes and then started down the hall. Leia's door was covered in vivid drawings of superheroes and faded stickers of pastel butterflies, but what more did he expect from an eleven year old girl? Nicholas knocked on the door, waited for a 'one more minute, Daddy!' or an 'I'm ready, I'm ready!' and instead heard a song that played faintly in the background. _Enter Sandman_. The song that had become Leia's lullaby after her first nightmare, and ever since then whenever else she felt like the monster was after her... Suddenly, gripped with panic that he hadn't felt in months, Nicholas opened the door and found clothes strewn across the carpeted floor. He glanced briefly around the room to find that a picture frame had been broken, the bed-sheets crumpled, the small window shade broken, the windowpane cracked open, but he couldn't find what belonged most in that room, what mattered most to him. His baby girl was gone.

Nicholas frantically searched his daughter's room. He lifted up the bed covers from the light blue carpeted floor, checked Leia's blanket fort that she favored as a hiding spot, lifted the window and peered below- nothing. He ran his fingers through his cropped dark hair as he tried to regain control of his breathing. Nicholas hurried down the hall to check the bathroom, and then his own bedroom. Nothing.

 _Hush little baby, don't say a word/ And never mind that noise you heard/ It's just the beasts under your bed/ In your closet, in your head._ Of course those lines would continue to play, with its whispered false security to fathers as well as to their children. Nicholas picked up the phone and his fingers fumbled to press the buttons.

"911, what is the nature of your emergency?" the operator asked, his voice professional and controlled.  
"It's...my baby...my baby girl isn't here," Nicholas's voice was nervous and unsteady, a polar opposite of the operator.  
"Sir, can you please explain the situation to me? Who am I speaking to? Where do you and your daughter reside?"  
"My name is Nicholas O'Riley. My baby, Leia...we live at 330 Dawson Lane. I let her sleep in this morning while I made my coffee," Nicholas choked, "and when I realized we were late for school, I called out for her. I thought she was still sleeping..."  
"When was the last time you saw your daughter?"  
"Last night...no, wait, technically this morning. Around 2 o'clock, I think. Leia gets these really bad nightmares sometimes- oh my god, I think I know who took her! Her nightmares, they're about this monster and-"  
"Mr. O'Riley, I need you to slow down. There are policemen on the way, but I need you to explain to me who you think has your daughter."  
"My ex-wife, Jacky. Leia sometimes calls her 'the monster' because of what happened last year. She- Jacky, I mean, she would do crazy shit to my baby. The last time they were in a room together, Jacky pulled a knife off the counter and tried to slash Leia's face..." Nicholas's voice trailed off as he recounted the scene in his mind. He breathed deeply as the operator typed into his computer to run a background check, and as the sound of sirens entered the street.  
 **  
8:48 AM**

Detective Taylor Griffin took the 911 dispatch call about a possible home invasion/child abduction and sent two of his lieutenants with a detective to 330 Dawson Lane. Lieutenants Caroline Ford and Logan Hunter went with Detective Juda Alpert to the O'Riley's suburban home, and before they could move to ring the doorbell, Nicholas opened the front door with a fervor of a man looking for salvation. The officers observed that the O'Riley's didn't have a sign of an alarm company, or any indication that the house had protection from home invaders.

"Please, come in," the disheveled father spoke urgently and gestured for the officers to enter the house. The police noticed Mr. O'Riley's unkempt dark mop of hair, his two day old stubble of a beard, and an orange mug spilled all over the kitchen counter (its stale coffee a light waterfall to the tiled floor), all before they settled on the green-gray couches of the living room. Art supplies and action figures littered the floor by the TV and there were family pictures on the walls featuring father and daughter.  
"Thank you so much for coming," Nicholas's shaken voice told the officers once they had been introduced to each other. Lieutenant Ford placed a recording device on the table between the couches which separated the distraught father from the attentive officers while Detective Alpert took out a pen and notepad to begin the interview.

 **Unknown Location  
** **Monday 5 October 2009 8:48 AM  
**  
Trees zoomed in and out of Leia's line of vision, the colors swarmed together and fell apart just as easily. Blurred images gave way to clearer ones that remained equally puzzling. The car moved much too fast, and Leia was thrown off her seat, her long dark hair fell over her face as the driver made a sharp turn. Violins harmonized with flutes over the radio as everything spun out of control. The music from the radio sounded familiar although the scenery was unfamiliar, and both pieces of knowledge filled every fiber of her being with dread. Leia's head felt too heavy for her body and her chest felt tight. The scenes outside the car's window, and the car itself were new to the young girl. A dark barrier of tinted plexiglass separated Leia from the car's driver, she was either too weak to open the door or it had been set on child-safety mode, and an increased sense of fear formed in her heart as she tried to speak. "Hello?"

Leia's voice was barely audible to her own ears and her throat hurt from the effort it took to say two syllables. The disoriented girl worried that something happened to her vocal cords, and raised her hands to her neck. The outside of her throat felt fine while her insides felt sluggish, like her body was a piece of fruit stuck in a jell-o cup. Leia coughed, sat up to move back to the seat she was flung from but was overwhelmed by waves of nausea. Her inability to think properly prevented her from remembering where she was and how she got there. All she knew was that the floor she sat on was not the floor of her daddy's car, and the strange feeling of being attacked by the monster didn't seem so strange anymore.

"Daddy? Help me, please. I'm scared," Leia managed to whimper. Her last thought before she blacked out was _"Don't forget, don't forget. I won't forget you and you won't forget me. Don't..."_

* * *

 _Exit light/ Enter night/ Take my hand/ We're off to never never land._


	2. Approach With Caution

**25B Watson Road  
** **Sparrow, New Hampshire  
** **Monday 5 October 2009 9:32 AM**

Detective Griffin, having heard Nicholas O'Riley's statement from his lieutenants, dispatched two more officers to Jacky Novik's residence. Officers Daniel Victorino and Eva Bentley approached the ramshackle multi-family house with caution. Pieces of the chain-link fence were broken and scattered around the mud that could barely pass as a yard. Bentley knocked on the splintered door on the right, which had faded from blue to gray long ago.

"Ms. Novik, this is Officer Bentley, Sparrow PD," she announced with the hope that the woman would be more receptive to another woman's voice. There were clear sounds of movement coming from inside of 25B before the door opened up an inch. Ms. Novik's bleached-blonde curly hair appeared behind a chain which separated the officers from the resident.  
"What's this about? I didn't do nothing," the woman spoke defensively, her eyes unfocused.  
"Ms. Novik, may we come in? We just have a few questions to ask you," Victorino said kindly as he attempted to make eye contact with the mother of a missing child.  
"I told you, I didn't do nothing," she repeated and slammed the door. Victorino and Bentley exchanged glances that said 'we know she's still standing behind the door'. A few seconds after the silent exchange, Bentley knocked again and said "Ms. Novik, this is about your daughter."  
"Leia?" came the reply as the door was opened completely. "So my poor excuse for a husband has beat her again, huh?" Ms. Novik snarled. "But you knew that already, and that's why you're here now. Come on in, I'll tell you everything." She led the police through a narrow hallway to what could be generously described as a living space, oblivious to the puzzled looks on the officers faces. The kitchen, covered in burnt pans, broken glasses, an overflowed trash bin and spills of all colors, had a flimsy curtain that divided the work space from the bedroom. Ms. Novik folded her arms in a manner that suggested she was used to being bossy and said, "Well?"

"Ms. Novik-"  
"-Jacky. Do I look like someone called 'miss'?"  
"Jacky," Bentley corrected herself in an evened tone. She noticed that other than the bed, there was nowhere for them to sit, and didn't bother asking that they be seated for the interview. "When was the last time you saw Leia?"  
"I dunno, prob'ly last week, or the one before that," Jacky answered carelessly, still unable to focus her eyes. "Some time before school started, that's for sure."  
Victorino wrote in his notebook 'mother lacks concepts of care and time', and being that he was slightly shorter than his partner and stood a few inches in front of her, got himself a look of overreaction.  
"Can you describe her physical appearance?" Bentley continued.  
"She looked okay, you know? Didn't look like he'd hurt her," Jacky said with her voice full of contempt for her ex-husband.  
"Your first reaction to your daughter's name seems to be one of concern and yet you can't tell us when you saw her last," Victorino interjected somewhat aggressively.

 **Behavioral Analysis Unit  
** **Quantico, Virginia  
9:32 AM**

Jennifer Jareau shuffled through the pile of case files on her desk with the knowledge that Hotchner expected a debrief as soon as possible. Ever since his encounter with Darrin Call in Louisville, Hotchner had been persistently headstrong about getting work done as efficiently and as accurately as possible. A vehicular homicide case seemed the most urgent, so JJ notified Penelope to make copies of the presentation for everyone. Down in the bullpen, Morgan drank his coffee with a brooding expression on his face.

"Someone have a rough weekend?" Emily Prentiss asked as she walked through the door.  
"Someone want to mind her own damn business?" Derek retorted.  
"Okay, no need to take it out on me," Prentiss raised her hands as if she were defending herself, before she moved to her desk.  
"What do you suppose is going on up there?" Spencer asked while he gestured to Rossi's office.  
"Jesus, Reid, don't go sneaking up on people. I was about to punch you in the neck," came the reply from a still on-edge Derek.  
"You didn't answer my question," Spencer continued, unintimidated by the older agent's anger. "Why are Hotch and Rossi having a closed door conversation?"  
"For a genius, you sure do ask some pretty stupid questions," Derek said caustically. Prentiss, who had been absorbed (or at least had pretended to be absorbed) by the amount of paperwork on her desk, swiveled around and gave Morgan a look that had the potential to kill. Reid, with his messenger bag still over his shoulder, hobbled silently on his crutches to the break room.

"What the hell, Morgan?" Prentiss rose from her chair and turned to face him. "Spencer is concerned about Hotch, and all you can do is snap at him? What's going on with you?" Prentiss's voice remained demanding, yet she added a layer of care to her last question.  
"He's not the only one concerned about Hotch," Derek sighed while he put his coffee cup down. "And when he's under pressure, I mean more than the usual pressure, we're all under pressure. It's difficult to do everything as 'efficiently and accurately as possible' when there's somebody watching you all the time."  
Prentiss was prepared to make a comment on how guarded and paranoid Derek had become, when Rossi and Hotchner emerged from the office. Garcia and JJ followed a few steps behind, and JJ motioned for Prentiss and Morgan to go to the debrief. Reid left the break room balancing his bag and a large cup of coffee while he walked with his crutches towards the room with the round table.

 **Unknown Location  
** **10:16 AM**

Little click-clack noises resonated in Leia's ears, which told her that the strange car was headed over a bridge. A few minutes after the noises had stopped, the car slowed down and parked in crunchy gravel. Leia could hear the man's fingers drum on the steering wheel, but couldn't lift up her drowsy head and see past the dark barrier. Beyond the barrier, the clean-shaven tanned man took his fingers off the wheel and slapped himself in the face as he muttered "C'mon, you can do this." After a quick glance at his reflection in the rear-view mirror and a longer look at the blackout barrier, the man opened his door and stepped his worn work boots down to his makeshift driveway. He gently closed his car door and opened the door to greet the girl in the backseat.

"Hello, darling," he spoke softly with a hint of a smile on the left side of his mouth. "It's okay, Papa's here."  
Leia's muscles were weak, her eyes barely opened, and she knew that this man was not her dad and at the same time knew that she had no other choice but to go with this man, because he was the only one who could help her. It hurt her little lungs to breathe, it hurt her head to open her eyes, it hurt everywhere, yet she attempted to raise her arms from the floor towards the man she would come to know as Papa.

"Thatt'a girl," the man spoke encouragingly. "I'm going to take very good care of you, darlin'."


	3. Wheels Up

**Behavioral Analysis Unit  
** **Quantico, Virginia  
Thursday 8 October 2009 2:40 PM**

Agents Hotchner, Rossi, Prentiss, Morgan and Jareau returned from the case in Missouri and planned on settling down to write their reports. Hotch had decided earlier to check in on Jack and Haley afterwards, and knowing his team, he would be completing their reports for them while they got to retire 'early'. Likewise, JJ excitedly awaited returning to her family as soon as possible. Emily, being adamant in her beliefs about attachment, would never admit that she longed for Sergio and couldn't wait to be back with him in her apartment. Rossi, the cuoco that he is, wanted to experiment in his kitchen with a new recipe for bruschetta. Derek hadn't been his usual outspoken self, having retreated into his headphones and his own mind during the duration of the entire flight others were concerned for his well-being, but before anyone got another chance to try and connect with him, before the team could even reach the doors to the bullpen, Reid walked down the hallway as fast as his crutch and injured leg would allow him.

"Guys, I know you just got back from a case, but we have a bit of a problem. The Crimes Against Children Unit was alerted today of an abduction that took place in New Hampshire on Monday-" the profiler began to urgently speak, the words tumbling out of his mouth as if they couldn't be contained any longer.  
"-then why the hell are we only hearing about this now?" JJ interrupted, furious with the notion that a child could be missing for such a long time, and her thoughts automatically turned to Henry. Spencer looked at her sympathetically and continued with his announcement as he led the rest of the unit into their bullpen.  
"The local authorities thought they could interview the usual suspects; you know, parents, teachers, et cetera because 'while approximately 800,000 children go missing each year, which is roughly 2000 children per day, only 115 abductions are committed by strangers'. I don't know who wrote that report, because the grammar is awful-"  
"Reid!" Hotchner spoke harshly to get the doctor's mind back to the important matter at hand.  
"Right, so the police met with the parents multiple times and afterwards they met with the usual suspects, and due to the vast amount of inconsistencies and absolute lack of leads, the FBI got the case," Spencer concluded his announcement with ease, as if the sentence flowed naturally as any other.

"There's nothing on a kid who has been missing for 72 hours?! We all know what that means, time to hope for the best and anticipate the worst." Morgan's outrage obviously hadn't dissipated over the past case, and this news only further provoked the feeling.  
"What do you mean, 'vast amount of inconsistencies'?" Rossi turned his head sideways, puzzled expression on his face as he asked the younger agent.  
"It's the typical 'he-said, she-said' with the parents, the mother making it seem like it's the father's fault while the father says the mother is the real danger to their daughter. Honestly, if you ask me, I would say that at least one of the parents is guilty of something regarding the child. I've looked over the reports from the local police department and yes, Rossi, there is a lot of information that just doesn't line up. The father is distraught, with speculation that he is possibly overcompensating, while the mother, obviously intoxicated, literally shrugged off her only child's disappearance, and how could we possibly forget the numerous court orders filed within this past year alone..." Reid's voice trailed off, as if he had a loss for words to solve this calamity. It wasn't often that the pretty boy genius fell tongue-tied, since that phenomenon meant alarming odds against the BAU's favor to exact justice.

Garcia broke the silence that seemed to go on for an eternity but only lasted a few brief seconds. "Normally I'd welcome you amazing crime fighters back with joy, but I can tell by the unspoken words on your faces that my assistant already informed you of our new situation." She led her squad to the Round Table and began to distribute the case files.  
"All right, my furry little friends. This one's a real big mess of crazy, and that's really saying something considering all the awful things we see," Penelope said with her sad puppy dog face, and it didn't take being a profiler to distinctly see the tech's shock as she passed the folders around. "Leia Nicole O'Riley, age 11, was taken from her home in Sparrow, New Hampshire, sometime between 2 and 8:30 AM Monday morning. Her father, Nicholas, had helped her through a nightmare in the early morning and unfortunately, her bad dream became reality." The board behind Quantico's favorite tech was covered with headshots of the individual family members, a picture of the house, mug shots of the mother, and the missing child report that had been filled out by the father.  
"Nicholas reported that Leia has frequent nightmares about being hurt by a monster with sharp claws. A DCFS report from last year noted that the mother attempted to cut Leia's face with a butcher knife," Reid's voice shook slightly as he continued reading the report to his colleagues from where Penelope had left off. "When local officers went to visit the mother on Monday morning, she slammed the door in their faces and said that she didn't do anything. Only after the officers mentioned Leia did some semblance of emotion register, and it was mostly frustration expressed towards the father."

"There were traces of lorazepam and rohypnol when the mother was brought in for questioning, along with signs of long-term use of the drugs," Hotchner read from the report. "It would explain Jacky Novik's irrational mood, and she isn't in a clear state of mind that would allow her to make decisions, let alone drive a car to take her daughter and move her within a span of hours. The town put out a BOLO for Leia, and in a town that's less than half the size of only 25 square miles-"  
"27.2, and sparsely populated -" Spencer muttered under his breath as the unit chief spoke keenly.  
"-you would figure that someone would know something, even a small detail, about this girl's disappearance."  
"I mean, how many girls with brown hair are there wandering the streets in," here Prentiss paused for a second to read the BOLO notification, "gray sweatpants and their dad's old blink-182 concert t-shirt?" she asked incredulously.

JJ looked around the room, appalled with sudden realization. "You guys know that I despise anticipating situations, that I like to take things piece by piece, but what if we're dealing with some kind of sex trafficking? I know that it's not typical for sex offenders to target specific victims and abduct them in their own homes," JJ continued as Penelope's face flashed with fear at the atrocious suggestion, while the rest of the team pondered its plausibility with grim expressions. "I think we shouldn't rule out the possibility of this being more than just a child abduction."  
"Sexual actions and murder follow closely behind the reasons an abductor takes children, which usually start off as parental needs that are most likely coupled with unstable mental health," Rossi spoke, his formidable face that typically inspired vile scumbags with fear turned desolate and startled the BAU. Without even being in the field, this case already placed heavy weights on their shoulders. Glances were exchanged between everyone, confirming their concerns without words. A small town girl missing for 72 hours with virtually no leads...

"Wheels up in ten," Hotch spoke as he stood from his chair to end the meeting.


	4. Papa

**Unknown Location  
Thursday 8 October 2009 3:00 PM**

 _"I'm going to take very good care of you, darlin'."_

How many days passed since Leia first heard those words, how many times had they been repeated to her in that bittersweet tone, and how many more times would she hear the smile in his voice as he said those words? Leia's head no longer throbbed with intense pain, although her body still seemed unable to respond to her brain's commands. Did breathing always feel this difficult? Was the world always this blurred? Confusion had given way to concern after her small body had woken up in an over-sized bed, shielded by... No, not Daddy's plush fleece blanket; this unwelcoming sheet chilled her bare skin and fostered bloodcurdling fear to her core.

Dim light faded through the doorway, casting shadows around the windowless room. Leia's beating heart shattered the silence and only furthered the screams in her head. _Danger! No shit - but what can I do about it?_ Her mind told her legs to move over to the edge on the strange bed and stand up, and when her body tried to move, nothing happened. _Maybe this is all just a really bad dream, and I'll wake up soon in my bed. That's why I can't move. It's part of the dream._ As the young girl's breaths became stable she became aware of a loud clock. Its ticking seemed to grow in volume, continuing to tick in rhythm with her heart and the pulsating thoughts within her head.

* * *

 _The sandy-haired man seemed to be a giant, with a tiny pastel bundle swaddled in his arms. From the lavender blanket came the cries of a fevered baby, urgent bursts of raw pain from a sore throat. The man shifted his weight as he whispered, "Shhh, darlin', it's going to be okay. Momma's jus' gone out to get you some nice medicine drops. Shhh, you're gonna end up hurtin' your ears now, too." His voice wavered despite his attempt to sound calm, and he sensed the baby could notice his insecurity, as her eyes began to swell with tears that threatened to fall. "Shhh," he tried again as he shifted his weight once more from side to side. While he rocked he began to hum, "When I look into your eyes, I can see a love restrained. But darlin' when I hold you, don't you know I feel the same..." As he hummed, the baby's screams settled into sobs and the man softly brushed the tears off her cheeks.  
_ _He concluded his song and whispered, "Momma should be here soon, my darlin' angel." He started up the song once again, and with the last, "You're not the only one", the baby was sleeping as soundly as a sick baby could. A loud bang shattered him from his pleasant thoughts as the front door slammed back and forth .  
"Shit!" the young man whisper-yelled, fearing that the baby had been woken. When he peered down at the precious bundle in his arms, he let out a sigh of relief at the sight of her sleeping form. His tanned arms gently placed her down in the worn bassinet by the wall before he went to greet the apartment's newcomer. Expecting Rae with the medicine, he was ready to ask her what the hell had taken so long, and why she had to slam the door. He turned on the light switch in the small hallway to find Patrick on the floor in front of the door with fresh marks in the crook of his right arm and a jaded expression on his face.  
"You gotta be shittin' me, man," the sandy-haired man sighed, exasperated with the day's events - hell, with life's events.  
"Wha', jus' 'cause there's a baby here means I can' have fun?" his roommate responded with a wide smile on his face, before he got up to pass out on the once-red sofa. The young man shook his head with a mixture of disgust and pity, and then went back to his room to check on his darlin'._

* * *

With a resounding bang the door swung against its hinges. His eyes trained only on the bed, the young man sprinted into the room."Shhh, darlin', there's no need to scream. You'll end up hurtin' your ears," the man whispered, more to himself than the girl, after realising that there was no tangible harm in their way."Darlin', Papa's here. Please don't cry," the man raised his voice hoping that Leia would be able to hear him over her own screams. A heavy sigh escaped the lips of the agitated young man as he approached his bed. A slow breath in through his nose, followed by a long exhale from his mouth, and then a soft hum reverberated through his chest. His upper body undulated in relaxed, even tones. _Lullaby. Safety._ Leia recognised that her own breaths were now coming easier and that the room was now in a perfect balance of sound - the clock was still there, of course, but the loudness that she later identified as her own screams were gone.

"Don't that feel better?" The hum had ceased, yet its cadence hadn't left the voice. With a nod and slight turn of the head, Leia agreed. Her throat ached from screams she hadn't been aware of uttering, her head still had the feeling of being stuck in a jell-o cup, and the rest of her was a strange sensation of being overheated and way too cold at the same time.

"Darlin', you're shivering," the young man's forehead crinkled in consternation. His work-worn hands pulled at another satin sheet and gently wrapped it around the cowering young girl in an expert swaddle. Leia, who had her head turned away from the stranger as he came closer with the blanket, now turned to face him, sobs stifled in her throat, tears slowly leaking from their ducts. Despite being ensconced in blankets, tired, and in pain, she twitched as much as she could from side to side, as if that would somehow get her free. All it did was tire her out more and allow her hair to cover her face.  
"Shhh." That damn whispered expression again. Who would have ever thought that a phrase meant to quiet the heart could cause it to ache so much instead? "I told you that I was going to take very good care of you, darlin'. I'm nothing if not a man of my words," the words came from his chapped lips as he brushed the tears off Leia's cheeks with his thumb and combed her hair back with his other hand. The little girl stopped thrashing and looked up at this surprising man with eyes widened in confusion. "I wanna help you, angel. You gotta let me help you."

As the older, tanned, face neared the young girl, she avoided him the only way she could. Eyes closed, tears falling slowly, she could feel the man's lips press softly to her forehead and then pull away two seconds later. He then moved her body over, slid himself into the bed, and held her for what seemed like forever.  
"There's no need to cry. Papa's here," the young man whispered while rubbing his thumb in what he believed to be comforting circles on Leia's shoulder. She shuddered in response and tried to huddle deeper into her newly made cocoon.  
"Papa?" she asked herself aloud, her voice barely audible. Upon hearing his name being recognised and spoken by the little darlin' beside him, the man's demeanor changed. His face, which had been exhausted and betrayed how long he had been thinking about his recent actions, shifted into temporary bliss. Twin blue-grey orbs twinkled with a shine to match his smile. He turned to face her as he spoke.  
"That's right, angel. I'm here, and you're safe with me. You can close your eyes; sleep. I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you, I promise." Both the smile and sincerity could be heard in his voice, and he noticed that they were reflected in her brown eyes. "I promise," he said while looking into her eyes. He sealed his final statement with a kiss, a gentle press of his lips to hers, and held her as she drifted back to sleep.


End file.
